A journey that would gladden the heart of Dylan Thomas – and a few other poets besides – will take place in the West Yorkshire village of Marsden on Thursday 10 August. Poets will visit three pubs in Marsden – the Railway, the New Inn, and the Riverhead Brewery Tap – to read and to launch the Poems in Pubs project, part of the Marsden the Poetry Village initiative.

The idea is to set up shelves of poetry in the locals for pubgoers to dip into. Publishers Templar, Smokestack, Calder Valley, Indigo Dreams, Valley Press, Flapjack, Seren, OWF and Longbarrow Press, plus individual poets Hannah Stone, Mike Farren and Lee Montgomery have already backed the project with donations of books.

The readings will begin at The Railway at 7pm where special guest and Marsden-based poet Jo Haslam will read alongside other invited poets, including members of Marsden Write Out Loud. The poets move on to the New Inn at 8pm, and finish at the Riverhead Brewery Tap with a third reading at 9pm.

Picture shows, from left: Abigail Smith of the Riverhead Brewery Tap pub, with David Coldwell, chair of the Marsden the Poetry Village project, and Rosie Wilkinson, co-ordinator of Marsden Write Out Loud  

PHOTOGRAPH: GEORGE COLDWELL

Background: Poems in shop windows - Marsden jazz festival competition